Ocean wave air compressor



S. W. SEARCY OCEAN WAVE AIR COMPRESSOR April 12, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 19, 1953 INVENTOR. SERAL W. SEAR'CY ATTORNEYS April 12, 1955 s. w. SEARCY OCEAN ,WAVE AIR COMPRESSOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 19, 1953 INVENTOR. SERAL W. SEARCY ATTOR NEYS United States Patent OCEAN WAVE AIR COMPRESSOR Seral W. Searcy, Portland, Oreg.

Application October 19, 1953, Serial No. 386,915

1 Claim. (Cl. 230-67) This invention relates to ocean wave air compressors and is particularly adaptedfor compressing and storing of high pressure air for operating air motors and the like.

The primary object of the invention is to operate air pumps by ocean waves wherein the pump operating mechanism will automatically adjust itself to the rise and fall of the tide.

Another object of this invention is to operate air compressing power mechanism by the lowering of weighted pontoons after they have been raised by the ocean wave.

Heretofore this power was exerted by the rise of the waves, which was not the proper power to apply to pistons compressing air, as this power was abrupt and erratic, but where the pontoons are raised by the waves, then allowed to lower by weight or ballast therein a more steady and constant power is exerted on the pumping pistons within the air compressor.

These and other incidental objects will be apparent in the drawings, specification and claim.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side view of my new and improved ocean wave air compressor, partially broken away for convenience of illustration.

Figure 2 is a plan sectional view looking down on one of the pontoons for transferring the movement of the wave to the air compressor, this view is taken on line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a plan sectional view, taken on line 3--3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail view, taken on line 44 of Figure 7, partially broken away for convenience of illustration.

Figure 5 is an enlarged side view of the air compressor and pontoon, parts broken away for convenience of illustration.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary side sectional view, taken on line 66 of Figure 5.

Figure 7 is an enlarged side view of the clutch mechanism employed for adjusting the compressor to the rise and fall of the tide, partially broken away for convenience of illustration.

Figure 8 is an end sectional view, taken on line 8-8 of Figure 7.

Referring more specifically to the drawing:

My new and improved wave operated compressor consists of vertical air compressing cylinders 1, mounted on a dock or platform 2. The platform is supported on piling 3 and the compressing units may be housed in an enclosure 4. Reciprocally operating within the cylinders 1 are air compressing piston 5. These pistons have piston rods 6 forming part thereof. The upper ends of the piston rods are fixedly secured to the cross head 7. The cross head 7 forms part of the framework 8. This frame is comprised of oppositely disposed side plates 9 connected together by the cross heads 7. The side plates are adapted to guide the plunger 11 in its up and down travel. The plunger 11 is fixedly secured at 12 at its lower ends to the pontoons 13.

The pontoons are guided vertically on the rails 14 which are fixedly secured to the piling 3, as best illustrated in Figure 2. Grooved wheels 15 are journalled to the sides 16 of the pontoons and are adapted to run on the ball 17 of the rail 14, guiding the pontoons up and down vertically as the waves raise and lower the said pontoons.

The plunger 11 is guided at its upper ends by the rollers 18 operating within the channels 19 of the plunger. A set of these rollers are fixedly mounted to the dock 2 and to the framework 8 and guided within the channels 19 of the plunger by way of the rollers 21.

Iournalled within the side frames 9 is a shaft 22. This shaft has a pinion gear 23 keyed thereto and adapted to cooperate with the gear rack 24. The said gear rack forms part of the plunger 11.

Referring to Figures 7, 8 and 4, a clutch assembly 25 is shown wherein clutch disks 26 are keyed to the shaft 22 at 27, while the clutch disks 28 are keyed to the housing 29 of the clutch unit 25 at 30. A sleeve 31 is slidably mounted over the shaft 22. This sleeve has a flange 32 forming part thereof and adapted to bear against the clutch disks 28. A spring 33, having one of its ends 34, engaging the flange 32 and its opposite end engaging the inner side of the casing 29 at 35, forces the flange 32 against the clutch disk 28, holding the disks 28 and the disks 26 together preventing the shaft 22 from rotating.

A collar 36 is keyed to the sleeve 31 and is spaced from the housing 29, as best illustrated in Figure 7. A plunger 37 is slidably mounted within the bearings 38 forming part of the housing 29. This plunger 37 has a yoke portion 39 adapted to embrace the shaft 22 and the sleeve 31, as best illustrated in Figure 4. The face of this yoke has sloping cam surfaces 40 formed thereon adapted to engage the flange 41 of the collar 36 on the movement of the plunger in either direction. The cams 40 engage the flange 41 of the collar 36, pulling the sleeve 31 and the flange 32 away from the clutch disk 28, releasing the said clutch and allowing the pinion gear 23 and its shaft 22 to rotate. Springs 42 center the plunger 37 and its yoke 39 in reference to the flange 41 of the collar 36, causing the clutch to be engaged.

Referring to Figures 1, 5 and 6, it will be noted that stops 43 and 44 are located in alignment with the plunger 37. These stops disengage the clutch mechanism when the pistons have been raised their full height and come to their extreme lower position. The object of this will be apparent later on in this description.

An air manifold 45 receives compressed air from the cylinders 1 by way of the check valves 46 and delivers the said compressed air to the storage tank 47 by way of the piping 48. Intake check valves 49 permit atmospheric air to enter the cylinders 1 in the pumping operation. Air may be delivered to an air motor 50 by the piping 51, the said air motor 50 operating an electric generator 52. Of course I do not wish to be limited to any particular use of the compressed air, as it may be used in many ways.

The ocean waves are indicated in Figure 1 by numeral 53. Referring to Figure 5, the pontoons 13 have ballast 54 for adding weight to them. This ballast lowers the pontoons on the lowering of the wave, the said ballast exerting a downward pulling power on the plunger 11.

I will now describe the operation of my new and improved ocean wave air compressor. As the waves 53 raise the pontoons 13 the plunger 11 will be raised guided by the rollers 18. The gear rack 24 raising the framework 8 and the cross head 7 by way of the pinion gear 23, the said gear 23 being prevented from turning by the clutch mechanism 25. This raises the pistons 5 within the cylinders 1 to their upper position by their piston rods 6.

In the event the tide has raised and the waves raise the pontoons beyond the point where the pistons 5 have reached their upper position, the stop 43 will engage the plunger 37 of the clutch mechanism 25, which will cause the cam surface 40 to engage the flange 41 of the collar 36 pulling the sleeve 31 and its flange 32 against the spring 33, disengaging the clutch disks 26 and 28 from one another. This will allow the pinion gear 23 to revolve, thereby stopping the upward movement of the cross head 7 and the frame 8, permitting the plunger to continue on upward in its travel until the pontoon has been raised to full height.

When the wave recedes from under the pontoon the ballast or weight 54 will lower the pontoon. When the stop 43 disengages from the plunger 37 the clutch disk will again engage locking the pinion gear preventing its rotation, therefore after the plunger 11 is lowered by the said weight of the pontoons the frame 8 and the cross head 7 will be caused to lower with the same, forcing the pistons 5 down within the cylinders 1 compressing air therein and discharging the same into the manifold 45 through the check valves 46 and into the pipe line 48 and to the storage tank 47.

In the event the pontoon is lowered further than is required to lower the pistons 5 to their full stroke, the stop 44 will engage the plunger 37 again disengaging the clutch, permitting the pinion gear 23 and its shaft 22 to revolve freely.

The disengaging of the clutch mechanism 25 when the piston 5 has reached either end of its stroke by the action of the plunger 11 is one of the primary objects of my invention. This compensates for the rise and fall of the tide which is necessary in the operation of my invention. Regardless of the amount of movement up and down of the pontoons the framework 8 and the cross head 7 will only travel a predetermined distance, thereby governing the stroke of the pistons within the cylinders at all times automatically.

What is claimed is:

An ocean wave air compressor comprising a horizontal platform, means supporting the platform above the ocean waves, a plurality of upright compressor cylinders on said platform, a piston slidable in each cylinder, a piston rod fixed to each piston and extending above said cylinders, a crosshead fixed to the upper ends of said piston rods, a pontoon below said platform, a vertical plunger fixed at its lower end to said pontoon, guide means for said plunger, an elongated gear rack fixed to one side of said plunger, a clutch shaft rotatably carried by said crosshead, a gear fixed to said shaft and meshing with said gear rack, spring-pressed clutch means normally holding said shaft against rotation to thereby lock said gear relative to said gear rack, a normally inoperative clutch release means, and upper and lower clutch release operators fixed relative to said platform and engageable with said clutch release means upon excess vertical movement of said plunger whereby said crosshead will be declutched with respect to said plunger.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 692,424 Burdick Feb. 4, 1902 868,547 Green Oct. 15, 1907 917,647 Odom Apr. 6, l909 953,600 Edens Mar. 29, 1910 2,613,868 Smurr Oct. 14, 1952 

